e sickness which affects
Gilgamesh is of a venereal character. The hero wanders about in search
of healing. His suffering is increased by his deep sorrow over the loss
of his 'companion.' The death of Eabani presages his own destruction,
and he dreads the dreary fate in store for him. The ninth tablet
introduces us to this situation.

Gilgamesh weeps for his companion Eabani.
In distress he is stretched out on the ground.[912]
'I will not die like Eabani.
Sorrow has entered my body.
Through fear of death, I lie stretched out on the ground.'

He determines to seek out a mysterious personage, whom he calls
Parnapishtim,[913] the son of Kidin-Marduk.[914] This personage has in
some way escaped the fate of mankind and enjoys immortal life. He is
called the "distant one." His dwelling is far off, "at the confluence of
the streams." The road to the place is full of dangers, but Gilgamesh,
undaunted, undertakes the journey. The hero himself furnishes the
description.

I came to a glen at night,
Lions I saw and was afraid.
I raised my head and prayed to Sin.
To the leader (?) of the gods my prayer came.
[He heard my prayer (?)], and was gracious to me.

On many seal cylinders and on monuments, Gilgamesh is pictured in the
act of fighting with or strangling a lion. In the preserved portions of
the epic no reference to this contest has been found.[915] We should
look for it at this point of the narrative. The following lines contain
a reference to weapons,--ax and sword,--and in so far justify the
supposition that some contest takes place. But the text is too mutilated
to warrant further conjectures. After escaping from the danger
occasioned by the lions, Gilgamesh comes to the mountain Mashu, which is
described as a place of terrors, the entrance to which is guarded by
'scorpion-men.'

He reached the mountain Mashu,
Whose exit is daily guarded, ...
Whose back extends to the dam of heaven,
And whose breast[916] reaches to Aralu;[917]
Scorpion-men guard its gate,
Of terror-inspiring aspect, whose appearance is deadly,
Of awful splendor, shattering mountains.
At sunrise and sunset they keep guard over the sun.

It will be recalled that the earth is pictured by the Babylonians as a
mountain. The description of Mashu is dependent upon this conception.
The mountain seems to be coextensive with the earth. The dam of heaven
is the point near which the sun rises, and if the scorpion-men gu